Tuesday, February 26, 2008

RUNDOWN

Hi Everyone!How is it going?Hope you had a great weekend.I had a fab weekend....I got to hang out with some of my friends, went to see a movie, went out for dinner etc...was chilled but fun.I also got to speak at a youth event at my church. It was interesting....Anyways, so many events have been taking place all over Nigeria and in Nigerian communities all over the world, here are some tidbits...

There is something I have been meaning to talk about but wanted to ensure that I was knowledgeable enough before speaking out.A couple of weeks ago, I was reading Jeremy Weate'sNaijablog and spotted a blog post he did a proposed 'indecent dressing/public nudity bill' by Senator EmeUfotEkaette.I also saw an episode of FunmiIyanda's show where it was discussed by female activists - HERE

In the bill, indecent dressing is COMICALLY defined as:i: the breast of a female above the age of 14 yearsii. the laps of a female above the age of 14 years (bella's note: please go and throw away your shorts, skirts and dresses!)iii. the belly or waist of a female above the age of 14 yearsiv. any part of the body from two (2) inches below the shoulders downwards to the knee of a female person above the age of 14 yearsv. any part of the body of the male person above the age of 14 years from the waist to the kneeetc...visit naijablog to see scans of the actual bill -CLICK 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Punishment for the above 'offences' and the other items described in the bill include jail terms and fines.

Seriously, this just makes me weak. With EVERYTHING, that is going on in Nigeria, especially the poverty, abuse etc.. that many women are facing, I cannot believe that the best thing a FEMALE senator, who is the Chairperson for the Committee on Women Affairs, Social Welfare and Youth Development in the Senate could come up with.

I cant even imagine the chaos that will ensue if this is passed. Lecherous policemen will stop women and ask them to twirl around so they can inspect their clothes. Perhaps they will carry tape measures and start checking if you are breaking the law...no doubt this will give them police people ample opportunity to 'touch and feel', after all they would simply be doing their jobs. I am sure enrollment at the police academy will sky rocket!See the photos above, just imagine, under this bill, Kaffy, Ofunneka, PSquare and others would be guilty of indecent dressing or is it public nudity! Sad.

61 comments:

Anonymous
said...

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!I'm First!!!YAY!!!!!!!!!!Nehu, about the senator, Excuse me, but i think she has to be the daftest and most intellectually unsound person in the world right now!Hw, with all the issues we have to deal with in Nigeria, is indecent dressing high up, on our priority list! I think people just want their names in the lights and therefore go about making silly laws! *MAjor Hissss!*Neways, pictures looking ultra fab!have a great week people!!!x x

cant u all see how stupid,foolish and totally idiotic d pple voted (or in my opinion rigged) into parliament are. so wit d hunger,extreme poverty,lack of jobs,electricity,dead educational system and all d probs with our country it is who is wearing short skirt and showing breast that is d prob. wat annoys me is that the so called person sponsoring d bill is probably chasing young girls up and down Abj yet he has d effontry 2 try and sponsor such a bill. God will punish d stupid man.

my bad so it is even a woman sef.lol. her name is ''EKAETTE'' so wat do we expect. she wants us 2 start dressing like housemaids. foolish oloshi buruku woman. e no go beta 4 her. am sure her husband has been yanshing some babes outside and she thinks this is d way forward.

let us not focus on insulting her, that wont change anything. it would be great if we could sign a petition or protest in some other way.@justme - i hope she is able to come on your show and 'shed some light' on her reasoning

I seriously cannot believe that is an actual piece of legislation, that an educated woman in this day and age actually considered! Seriously? We have development problems, Female Circumcision, Unemplyment, Bad schools- and she is concerned about indecent dressing??!!!

was ofunneka serious about that outfit!or she was part of a carnival....

psquare should come and serenade me o jare with their "no one like you"

all i can say is that they are MAD in that country!with all the other things going on..poverty,healtcare,bad roads,poor electric supply,police brutality,bad roads,lack of street lights they decide to turn on indecent dressing!thunder fire all of them involved in this!what an we do!!!a petition!will that make any difference....but we can say we tried!

I am coming up with a conspiracy theory... maybe the senator is just a front for this bill. After all Yaradua once tried to introduce sharia to katsina when he was governor and now he is president there is a bill against nudity and his wife is always covered up as if we live in the artic....HMMMMMM. Just a theory.

@ 1:02pm, I am biting my tongue because you are really dumb to make the argument you just made???? What does the name EKAETE got to do with a legislative bill that precludes indecent dressing in a very vague and overbroad way???????? You've just lumped all Calabar and AkwaIbom women as housemaids????? What the hell??? What does dressing like housegirls have to do with an overbroad statute????? How dare you? While I do not support the bill because it is dumb, comments like yours might explain why the woman is so narrowminded. Have you checked lately how so called housegirls are treated-they are very often raped by the masters and sons of the non-"Ekaettes" women.Plus physically abused by the non-Ekaette women. U should be ashamed for playing with such topic like that that is not even relevant to the statute? I am so furious right now. You are nothing short of dumb for that comment.

Adress the damn issue. Don't relegate a generation of people and women across the globe to your omo odos or stupid stereotypes!!! Right back at you. Oloshi, Oloribuku ni e. Oshi o da ni ile pako. Nonsense and concobility!

this is hilariously ridiculous. She could do better than this. Gessss. This bill is sexist and an affront to our reputation. you cannot force people to do what you believe in. I hope she does not have daughters.

that is fucking bullshit. We are living in the age of a free society. If women want to expose their breasts to the world or whatever, the guilty onlookers can either close their eyes or eat grass. Chikena. WHat rubbish?

To the 6th anon, you can go and shoot yourself. What does her name have to do with anything. How does her ethnic background affect your life or the idea of this bill passing?? It is ignorant idiots like you who try to make jokes with divisiveness stereotypes that should be sent to guantanamo. How have you helped to answer the question or solve anything for that matter? Abeggi Mechu nu gi!

Sure, the bill at first glance warrants a lot of name-calling, but how come there was only a few lines about indecent dressing for men? I agree with the ladies on Funmi's show.Indecent dressing is a moral issue and not a political one.If I choose to walk around 'naked'(exposure of 2" below my shoulder) in Nigeria, the law should protect me if there is a case of rape or harassment as it is obtainable in the US. Why do women have to bear the brunt of lascivious acts.

Nudity aside... she is also in charge of Social Welfare and Youth Development. Tho' I m happy the bill wants to 'punish' those who request for 'sexual favors'(been a victim one time too many), I m very disappointed that she is not talking of empowering women to go into business for themselves or better health benefits. We've managed to still have democracy all wrong after 9years.

That said... I m sure we are all still angry that some policeman will soon be stopping us with his tape measure to checkout out if our cleavage is 1" below the prescribed allowance.

@doja... careful..some of bella's audience are muslim...there is no need to describe islamic dress as living in the artic.

and @anon 12.36am... the Ekaette crack is not constructive to the issue. I m sure we all know that.

I think after your read page 2 [#2(d)] of the bill you will see that it is intended to advocate against professor-student sexual relations becus y'all know the whole deal with students soliciting for marks or profs pressuring students into 'sex for grades' bit. I'm going to read more of this stuff.

I am from a muslim background and did not mean to insult anyone, to enter my grand father's house you need to take off your shoes and have your head covered, no one in my dads family will be offended by that comment, if anyone is offended they need to get a life and a sense of humour.

I have to say that this is the most appalling thing that has ever come out of Nigeria. This is worse than suicide bombing, imo.

Now the rate of molestation by 'authorities' in Nigeria will increase. I don't even know where to start with this...

...The unfairness, the oppression of women, the infringement on the right to express oneself, the debate of whether legislation can uphold or even create morality, the shame on fellow Nigerians ( esp. the ones in the diaspora who represent the country), the absence of priority that just reflects the entire chaos we call a government.

I wish we could have a Bella Naija where the truly intelligent can comment and exchange ideas in an atmosphere devoid of pettiness and language that does not suggest any level of refinement. However, this is just a blog (an unmoderated one at that)...so one can't expect too much. If this is a microcosm for Nigeria and the way Nigerians think (and I hope to God it isn't) and respond to issues or off-hand comments, we have certainly regressed to the dark ages. Once again, we dance on the periphery, hurling insults back and forth but doing next to nothing to address the issues at hand properly. It is a big, big shame and a sad day for me as a Nigerian and a human being. However angry we are, there are ways to get our ideas across that don't require crutch words. Sad, sad day.

We can sit here all day fine tuning our rhetoric but if we don't couple that with action, it is an exercise in futility. At the end of the day, no one cares ENOUGH about this because no one here (to the best of my knowledge...please let me know if I'm wrong) has done/is doing anything. All talk, no action. Isn't that what the vast majority of Nigerians are good at? We should always do the little we can - facebook groups, e-mail petitions, forwarded messages, youtube videos etc. Let's not wait for a website to spring up before we put our brains to good, productive use. This bill will only die is we kill it...and that takes physical and mental effort. With that said, google this bill, read the rebuttals to it, e-mail the authors, bombard whoever you can with this budding coalition of discontent. Not sure where to start? I know Funmi Iyanda cares and she's very accessible but she can't do this alone:

funmi@newdawnwithfunmi.com

E-mail her your support, signatures, letters, send her a facebook message, etc. It will embolden her to take the necessary steps, if she hasn't already. If I do my bit (and I am), and you do your bit...

1. We can personally contact as many influential Nigerians (you all know you're connected, lol) and push against this nonsense...

2. Start a website and sign a petition everyday.

3. I recall someone in the UK wanted to organize a protest in form of a march? That should be effective so far there's enough media coverage. In general, I think we really need to get as much media attention as possible. Relevant media that is, and not yellow journalism...

First things first, these so called law makers with their billions of naira are not buying people's clothes. They dress in what they want to wear just like everyone else. While it may not be attractive to see someone walking down the streets with his pants or shorts hanging so low off of his behind that you can see the whole design of their underwear, or blouses low enough to see a woman's cleavage; that is that individuals personal choice. If such a law is passed that would ban dressing in such a manner, fines could range to whatever the authorities deemed fit. Who would've ever thought you would have to pay a fine for dressing a certain way? Some people are trying to fit in with their friends or a certain culture. Naturally everyone isn't going to share the same taste which is perfectly fine. But to fine certain people for their manner of dress is just wrong. If fines start for sagging pants, or wearing short skirts, it seems like it will only be a manner of time before you get fined for wearing shirts with certain messages or logos on them. After all, someone isn't going to like what you're wearing and someone will find it offensive.

Oluchi: I like her hair but i am not sure about the dress, although, yellow, is one of the colours that really complements her skin tone.

As for the bill passed, we could petition and protest it like Bella rightly, said. Maybe, for example, for individuals that are not based in Nigeria, could write to the Nigerian High commissioner in the country that they are living in and give them reasons why the bill should not be acknowledged, sthg like that.

Still on that, and individuals based in Nigeria could do the same or some other way they feel and believe that it is best......

Bella, i alway look forward to your blog everyday. thnk u 4 blogging.The senator should think of how to better 9ja unemployment rate and other important issues not indecent dressing.tho... our 9ja babes, should stop exposing their bodies too. The bill has to be stopped or 9ja police go beat/ arrest every dick and harry for road.Nigeria go better.

the senator's bill is just ridicoulous. i think there are smarter ways to approach the issue. i also believe that if other problems that lie on our feet are tackled, smaller issues will fade away. The criteria listed for judging indecent dressing for me doesn't hold water.

I'm just as upset about the next person about this bill, perhaps even more, but there are some things everyone needs to realise:

1. This bill is nonsensical. You CANNOT aim to address Indecent Dressing and Sexual Harassment in the same bill. To do so is to effectively link the two, and suggest that Sexual Violence and Harassment is a direct result of a certain manner of dress as Senator Ekaette is claiming.

2. I have read all 6 pages of this bill, and it looks like a vindictive attempt to deal with a personal issue under the guise of curbing sexual harassment in universities, work places, etc. My verdict: Senator Ekaette's husband is probably eying some hot young babe, and Madam Senator is bitter because she's let herself go.

3. It is effectively not the business of the government how anyone dresses. Nigeria has too many pressing problems to deal with. I don't even know how this bill got to the Senate floor, and it just shows how foolish the Senator is for pushing this bill when there is an exacerbated situation involving the murder of hundreds of children as 'child-witches' in HER constituency.

4. Women will forever be their own worst enemies. You will never see a man proposing a bill that would ban polygamy or prevent those perverted old men from marrying pre-teenage girls in the north, but women are always the front runners when it's time to bite another woman in the butt. It's pitiful and sad, and this is why men just fold their arms and shake their heads at us. Gee, thanks A LOT Senator Ekaette. Thanks for doing your job by lashing out at your husband through all the women of Nigeria. Who the HELL voted you in anyway?

5. What a SMART woman the Senator must be. By her reasoning, a girl under the age of 14 is an asexual creature. Devoid of sex organs and sexual feelings. Immune to sexual advances and attacks, and possessed of no sexual capacity whatsoever.

Babe needs to get educated.

TO SENATOR EKAETTE (should you happen upon my comment):

MEN DO NOT FORGET THAT WOMEN HAVE VAGINAS JUST BECAUSE THEY CANNOT SEE THEM! YOU CANNOT POSSIBLY THINK THAT FORCING WOMEN TO COVER EVERY INCH OF THEIR BODIES (IN A TROPICAL COUNTRY)WILL CURE ALL THE SEXUAL ILLS OF SOCIETY CAN YOU?

That senator needs to be fired. The constituents that voted her in need to unvote her. I am glad that Funmi Iyanda is speaking about it. raising awarenss and thing. Nigeria's least problem is how pple dress, it is about infrastructure and amenities.

Hello All, I don't know if someone else is organising this but I am seriously thinking about the London march to the Nigerian Embassy so if anyone is interested e-mail me at nkiruahiauzu@yahoo.com. I should introduce myself (sorry!) - I am a Lecturer in Law at the Aberystwyth University in Wales, UK. This is my departmental webpage: http://www.aber.ac.uk/law/staff/ahiauzu.shtml. If we can get this together it will be useful because like I said, we have to train our leaders to know that they can't do stupid things without getting a reaction.

If you e-mail me, I will set up a mailing list and we can discuss the date and other modalities of the march.

err lotanna, i disagree that putting indecency and sexual harassment in the same bill links them together. the bill itself from what i read does not link the two together in its language. even here in the US, lots of bills that reach the house of reps or the senate floor contain stuff that has nothing to do with the main bill. like the recent bill which tried to ban discrimination against LGBT people was couched in a bill linked to military funding which was part of why it failed.

i dont see why people should be insulting her, presumably she is doing what she feels is right and if her husband is indeed sleeping with whomever, that is her own palava. instead of coming her to rant and rave, why not protest that the random parts of the bill should be removed and tell us why! there are lots of people in nigeria who agree with her im sure, so instead of rolling your eyes and acting like it is obvious, please engage in useful tolerant debate, after all she is a human being too, entitled to her own ideas and opinions however stupid you might think they are. i mean if she is the only one who feels that way, the bill will not pass, but im sure shes not, so pressure the house of reps and the senate to reject or amend the bill, instead of gnashing teeth.

#55 yeah lol ... I'm sorry i just had to do that. I think that bill is stupid. When i was on Funmi's blog i heard talk about a protest... i wish i was in naija cus i wud have soooo walked.I geuss we should all be 14 and under so we can wear whatever we wanna wear.

"What do guys think?", 'tis not an issue of what do guys think but, rather, what do people think?

I think 'tis arrant nonsense, unfortunately, it shows to me that though she's run out of ideas; she couldn't even save herself this embrassment but shout out to the public; "my intelligence is low (oops, very low)"

...oh, that she (they) would channel their efforts at something much more challenging.